


Paranoia

by MamaBear7319



Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Irondad, Tony is Overprotective, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaBear7319/pseuds/MamaBear7319
Summary: After the events of homecoming, Tony’s paranoia about Peter’s safety skyrockets.Just an orphan one shot following Who Are You.
Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934734
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	Paranoia

"I would just feel better if you had a backup tracker." Tony leaned on the lab table looking at the teen across from him.

"I have a tracker." Peter held up his wrist. "Plus you can track my car and my suits."

"After what happened a couple months ago at the school I just worry that it will happen again. And next time, I'll be left trying to find you." Tony was more than worried. Ever since the incident at Homecoming he had been increasingly concerned about Peter being kidnapped. Peter called it an irrational fear, although he was pretty sure the kid had thrown in some other descriptive words the first time it came up. Pepper said he was being paranoid but since she herself had been a target multiple times she also knew it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

"They weren't trying to kidnap me. They were trying for the kids with the rich parents who would pay ransom." Frustration was apparent in Peter's voice. The argument had been going on for weeks and was only getting worse.

"Yeah, hate to tell you, but that's you." Tony was just as frustrated as Peter was.

"No one in their right mind would kidnap Iron Man's...whatever." Peter growled.

"People have tried to kidnap Pepper so many times I've lost count. She has a tracker in her arm." Tony found a calm center and tried a different approach. "I've had a tracker in my arm since Afghanistan. FRIDAY can disable them if she needs to."

"You are not putting a tracker in my arm." Peter was indignant. "Plus I don't think the spider would let you. I got a splinter in my hand the other day and it was literally pushed out within an hour."

Tony threw up his hands. "Peter, you have got to understand that this is a legitimate concern."

Peter looked at Tony. His paranoia over Peter's safety had skyrocketed, but not about him getting hurt when he was Spider-Man. Homecoming had brought a couple changes. For starters, everyone at the school knew that Tony was his legal guardian. Peter wasn't sure how it got out. May and Tony had discussed whether it made sense to let it revert back to May but between various surgeries and doctors appointments they ultimately decided that Tony needed to maintain primary guardianship in case something happened while she was out of commission. Tony enjoyed the fact that it had gotten out at school way more than Peter did. It meant that he could go to the Academic Decathlon competitions and parent teacher conferences without having to hide or have accommodations made. 

For Peter it meant that Tony was at Every Single Academic Decathlon competition and at the school way more than was necessary. Tony didn't know how to do anything halfway. It had been a problem more than once. The other change surrounded Tony's fear about Peter getting kidnapped. There was no basis for it other than what had happened at Homecoming. It wasn't like Peter had been targeted. But, he recognized the look of genuine concern on Tony's face. "Look. I know you're worried. But come up with a different option than injecting a metal tracking device in my arm."

Tony took the compromise as a peace offering and wracked his brain for a passive tracker option. A memory popped into his head. Bruce had been able to track Loki's scepter because it emitted gamma radiation. The radiation that Peter's DNA had been dosed with was gamma, although it was a different type than Bruce's or even Loki's scepter. "Ok, I may have an idea."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter and Tony spent hours working through the theoretical side of building something that would allow FRIDAY to scan for Peter based on the low amount of gamma radiation he emitted. Peter now knew way more about gamma radiation than he thought was possible. Some of it was a little disconcerting, especially when you got into the health related issues. He knew the spider was taking care of all of it but it was still unsettling. It only took them a couple weeks to come up with a theoretical model. A couple weeks after that to have a prototype. A prototype that couldn't find Peter unless he was within 100 yards. Which meant they were back to square one.

Working on a passive tracker reduced Tony's anxiety about Peter's safety but it wasn't gone entirely. It had been a while since his irrational anxiety had reared its head. His therapist said it was his way of sabotaging his happiness and some other psychobabble that he tuned out after blaa blaa blaa. Pepper actually took the therapists' side but shed a little more light on it.

"You've been so focused on helping Peter over the last year that you didn't have time to freak out over anything. Now that your relationship with him is in a good spot and more importantly he's in a good place, your insecurities are trying to convince you that you shouldn't be happy." Pepper's eyes followed Tony as he paced the length of their bedroom.

Tony glanced over at Pepper. "Yeah, I can somewhat understand that. I mean after all the things I've done, why do I deserve any of this. You, Peter, SI, a functional team. I deserved what happened after Germany."

Pepper crossed her arms. "Tony, after all you've done...you mean save New York from the Chitauri, or maybe all you've done to rid the world of Hydra, or going after the Ten Rings, or AIM. Should I go on?"

Tony growled a little which Pepper only laughed at. "I think you picked that up from Peter." She waited until she had Tony's attention. Then walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You deserve to be happy. You deserve me and you deserve Peter and you deserve a team you can count on." Pepper tilted her head to side, "Although part of me wishes they hadn't moved back to the city with us."

Tony shrugged, "It's not permanent. I'm just upgrading some of the compound and it made more sense for them to just get out of the way instead of living in a construction zone."

Pepper pulled away, "Uh-huh, more like you got frustrated trying to come up a passive tracker and needed something to tinker with so you opted to redesign half of the compound." She walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers. "I'm going to sleep. You can choose to join me or be exhausted when we meet with the wedding planner tomorrow."

Tony rolled his eyes, "That may be the very last thing I want to do tomorrow."

"It's about security and it's the one you said you wanted to be involved in." Pepper adjusted her pillow and stretched out. "I'm tired. You haven't been sleeping great so I know you're tired too. Please come to bed?"

Tony sighed and crossed over to the bed, climbing under the covers. "I don't deserve you."

Pepper curled around him, "Yes you do."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter finished a bowl of cereal and poured a second one waiting for Tony to get through at least a couple sips of coffee. He knew he hadn't been sleeping great lately although he looked way better this morning than he had been. Peter loved the fact that Tony got up and ate breakfast with him. Sometimes Pepper ate with them. Sometimes Happy and May ate with them. When the team temporarily moved to the city, on occasion any one of them would come up and eat with them. This morning it was just Tony. Peter actually preferred mornings like this. Sometimes they just talked about their schedule for the day, other times they planned out paradigm shifting technologies. Either way made for a great morning, however last night Peter had an epiphany about the passive tracker. He just needed Tony awake enough to discuss. He figured he was about two sips of coffee away from that point.

"Spiderling, I can tell when you have something in your head ready to spill out...so spill...". Tony smiled over his cup of coffee.

Peter grinned, "I was thinking about the passive tracker and I think if we ramp up what we did and add amplification to the rays that were using to detect the radiation, it may give us the result we're looking for."

"You want to amplify the detection rays?" Tony thought about the processes involved.

"Yeah, we might have to try some different sources to see what interacts the best." Peter reached across the bar and grabbed a banana.

Tony looked at the banana in Peter's hand. "Like potassium?"

Peter smiled and finished his banana. Potassium was genius. The decay rates were compatible. "Like potassium. What do you think?"

"I think you're on to something. Want to work in the lab some his afternoon instead of going patrolling after school?" Tony put his coffee mug down.

"Yeah, shouldn't have homework today so I can patrol on the way home." Peter grabbed his dishes and took them to the kitchen.

"That's right, you have a field trip today. Sure you don't need a chaperon?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "We haven't had parent chaperones since grade school. Besides, it's MOMA, I don't see that being something you're overly interested in."

Tony smiled. "Yeah, art was always more Pepper's area. Besides she's making me go to some wedding thing this morning."

Peter slung his backpack over his shoulder. "So the running bet is that you're going to get frustrated with the whole wedding thing and you're going to convince Pepper to elope. I've got 4 months, Rhodey is giving you 6 months. Natasha and Steve both think you'll go through with the actual wedding."

Tony raised his eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Peter called over his shoulder, "Yep! See you this afternoon!"

**Author's Note:**

> Up next...
> 
> **Bleed Through**
> 
> _Orange. Dust. That's all he could see. Then he felt it. Agony. Not the type of pain he'd experienced from the wrong side of a fight, but heart wrenching, excruciating pain. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He had felt that pain before. It was what he'd felt when he thought Pepper was dead and it's what he felt when MJ had called him from the hospital. It's what he felt when he had been told that his mother was dead. He thought he had heard Peter's voice before, telling him he was sorry. Then he heard it again but it wasn't coming from his dream, it was pulling him out of his dream, no, he corrected, this was a nightmare. It was still Peter but it was coming from his room down the hall. Tony jerked himself awake._


End file.
